


Rest for the Weary

by inksheddings



Category: Loveless
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-30
Updated: 2010-04-30
Packaged: 2017-10-09 05:42:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/83651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inksheddings/pseuds/inksheddings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The aftermath of Seimei had left Ritsuka and Soubi with their share of nightmares and sleepless nights.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rest for the Weary

Ritsuka sorely wishes that he didn't have to go to school in the morning. He's tired and his entire body hurts, unused to lugging heavy boxes up and down flights of stairs for nearly four hours. He could skip a day. It's not like his grades are bad, and Yayoi would catch him up on whatever he missed. Besides, he seriously doubts Soubi is going to feel guilty about calling in sick. Hell, he probably won't even call, he'll just sleep.

Which is what Soubi's doing right now, actually, lying on the futon next to Ritsuka. He's still dressed. He didn't even bathe after he and Ritsuka finally moved all their pitiful belongings into their new apartment. Kio had planned on helping, but then he went and broke his foot, tripping over a fallen tree branch walking from his car to Soubi's old apartment.

After Kio's cast was in place, Soubi had bought more beer than ever necessary and somehow managed to convince Kio that mixing alcohol and painkillers was a truly wonderful idea. It wasn't really, but Kio had already been too out of it to pay close attention. Ritsuka had yelled at Soubi when he found out, but then Soubi had jiggled Kio's car keys and smiled in that way that Ritsuka had never quite been able to resist. Okay, it had been a pretty unnecessary deception, but Kio had happily– and woozily –agreed to lend them his car for the move, despite the fact that neither of them had a driver's license.

One bedroom. Their own bathroom. A kitchen with pots and pans. A table, two chairs, a couch, and a rug on the floor. It isn't much, but it's everything they have. Ritsuka will make sure it's enough.

Ritsuka, sitting up on the futon, looks down at Soubi, sleeping peacefully. His fingers itch to touch him, but he's afraid of waking him up. The sun isn't even completely down yet, but Soubi's breathing is slow and deep and Ritsuka has never loved him more than he does now.

It was the accidental beard that had finally made up Ritsuka's mind.

The aftermath of Seimei had left Ritsuka and Soubi with their share of nightmares and sleepless nights, respectively. Still, weeks turned into months, which turned into nearly a year of rebuilding their lives, slowly but surely. Ritsuka's mom had slipped into near-catatonia. She was no longer violent, and still capable of caring for her own basic needs, so Ritsuka watched over here as best he could as he tried to blend back into the life of a teenager. Ritsuka's dreams merely left him breathless until he realized where he was and who he was with, and while Soubi's arms held on too tight, at least they were _Soubi's_.

Soubi held a part-time job, tutoring high school students with artistic aspirations, and while he wouldn't graduate on time, it would happen eventually. However, Soubi's increasing inability to sleep– which worsened to the point of not more than an hour here and there –had manifested itself in daily dark circles and too many cigarettes. That was worrisome on its own, but then Soubi finally grew exhausted enough not to bother with shaving for several days. Ritsuka didn't mind– though Soubi's stolen kisses were decidedly more itchy –but it was Kio who noticed, after tsk'ing at his friend's appearance, that the uneven growth was not the usual dark blond, but gray.

That was the moment Ritsuka truly woke up, shook off the nightmares, and asked Kio to help them find their own place to live.

Harder than the actual move– though Ritsuka's voice had, amazingly enough, barely shook through the entire conversation –had been calling and convincing his father to care for his mother more than just financially. In the end, Ritsuka's father relented, and Ritsuka felt surprisingly reassured that his mother would be just fine without him. Soubi, however...

Ritsuka leans down and kisses Soubi's cheek, gently but his lips linger even after the kiss is complete. The gray hair is no longer uneven, but carefully groomed and shaped and surprisingly soft. It doesn even itch against Ritsuka's skin, but feels warm and comforting instead.

"I thought you wanted me to sleep," Soubi says as he rolls onto his back and pulls Ritsuka down.

"I do," Ritsuka answers, but now he can't help but trace the outline of Soubi's beard with his thumbs. Ritsuka's tail lashes against Soubi's legs at the same time that his ears decide to lay flat against his head, as if disappearing into his hair.

Soubi's eyes widen, almost as if noticing something for the first time. But then he smiles– yes, _that_ smile –and turns his head just enough to catch one of Ritsuka's thumbs between his teeth. He bites, not hard enough to actually hurt, but enough to encourage Ritsuka's hips to push against Soubi's. And when bite turns to suction, well....

Both Ritsuka and Soubi sleep well that first night, surrounded by unpacked boxes and unfamiliar street noise. They wake up having shed more than just clothes, and certainly more than bad dreams and insomniac tendencies. But that's okay, they'll get used to it. Arms are far better suited for wrapping around Soubi's body than a tail ever was, after all. And the gray beard? Will never fool Ritsuka into thinking Soubi's grown up one little bit.

"We should unpack," Soubi says, though he makes no move except for the hand that brushes across Ritsuka's belly, then lower.

Ritsuka moves, but not toward the boxes lined against the walls. Those can wait, because Ritsuka's pretty sure that he and Soubi have unpacked all they need to for now.

 

**end**


End file.
